Of particular concern is the fact that at Terminal 5 only 75.7% of non-EU passport holders were through in less than 45 minutes.

This is where British Airways planes take off and land and it is by far the busiest Heathrow terminal in terms of passengers and flights.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA’s parent company, IAG, has been particularly strong in his condemnation of the long queues at Heathrow, saying the situation is damaging for Britain, particularly in the run-up to the London Olympics.

Next Thursday immigration staff will stage a one-day strike in a bitter dispute over public pensions, threatening huge disruption at airports, including Heathrow.

A Border Force spokesman said: “Border Force and BAA data shows that queuing time targets for UK and EEA citizens were not breached during April. But we know at times queues have been too long.

“That is why we have announced an extra 80 staff for peak times at Heathrow. And it’s why we’ve also engaged an extra 480 people to cover the Olympic period.

“In the longer term, our management and rostering changes will address the issue of queues.”

Shadow immigration minister Chris Bryant said: “Damian Green’s complacency in Parliament on Monday has now shown to be completely misplaced.

“People are right to feel angry that thanks to the Government’s ineptitude and cuts of nearly 900 members of staff, queues at Heathrow have been far too long.

“We need more than just words from the Prime Minister. The Government must get a grip or they will undermine our border security, our business reputation and the British tourism industry.”

Public and Commercial Services union general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “The issues of the last few days bring to the public’s attention what we have said for a long time – that you can’t cut staff and expect to run the same service.

“Clearly, the cuts already made in UK Border Agency have had a major impact and further cuts planned every year until 2015 will make the situation even worse.

“Ministers must now accept what the rest of us can plainly see – that austerity isn’t working, and that what we need is investment to improve our public services and get our economy moving again.”